Man City 2-0 Chelsea - FA Cup 5th round

Chelsea are out of the FA Cup after failing to make lightning strike twice for them at Eastlands.

Less than a fortnight on from their heralded league victory at the Etihad, the Blues were very much second best, barely managing to engage City keeper Costel Pantilimon in a subdued display.

This time, the Blues were unable to impose themselves in midfield as they had done in the league fixture between the sides and, significantly, Yaya Toure was in no mood to be brushed aside by Nemanja Matic, as was the case in that league clash.

In fact it was something of a reality check for Matic. So impressive on his Premier League debut at City, he was marginalised this time, although he was not alone.

Any hopes Jose Mourinho may have harboured of City being distracted by their forthcoming Champions League clash with Barcelona also proved fanciful. City badly wanted to make amends for that home humbling.

Stevan Jovotevic put City ahead on 16 minutes - moments after he had clipped the bar, following up after Peter Cech had failed to hold a Toure pile-driver.

Last year's beaten FA Cup finalists worked the ball in from the left, with Edin Dzeko playing the ball across the box for the Montenegrin to angle a shot across Petr Cech and in off the far post.

Tails up, City were soon pressing for a second and after Toure had got forward to unleash another strike from afar – this time well wide – Dzeko ended a lovely flowing move with a curler that Cech had to beat away.

And just before the break, Dzeko was within a whisker of turning in a low cross from the right by James Milner.

Chelsea needed to change the dynamic after the interval and Mohamed Salah was introduced in place of Samuel Eto'o to inject more pace up front.

But the Blues continued to struggle and on 66 minutes, their mission became almost impossible when sub Samir Nasri – who came off the bench only five minutes earlier – played a perfect one-two with David Silva to carve the Blues open for a merited second goal.


Line-up: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, David Luiz, Azpilicueta; Matic, Mikel; Ramires (Torres 61), Willian (Oscar 71), Hazard; Eto'o (Salah h/t). Subs not used: Schwarzer, Cole, Lampard, Schurrle.